The Gut-Wrenching Science Behind the World’s Hottest Peppers

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Title of the article: The Gut-Wrenching Science Behind the World’s Hottest Peppers

Summary:

Nagaland of India contains one of the world’s hottest chilies – the Naga King Chili (Bhut Jolokia). The author of the article, Mary Roach, arrived to Nagaland to experience the Hornbill Festival, in particular, to watch the Naga King Chili-Eating Competition. She aimed to find out and understand the pleasure and pain the Capsicum genus brings to the people who consume it. The Naga King Chili Pepper varies in heat, but can score extremely high on the Scoville heat unit. The contestants of the chili-eating contest began to suffer from the effect of the capsaicin in their digestive tracts. Some experienced hot flashes and unbearable heat from within, others, like the winner of the contest, vomited at the end of the competition. Some competitors were only able to eat a few of the Naga King Chili, however, others ate up to fourteen chilies. Tolerance for capsaicin, according to the article, is largely built on practice. Only a small part is due to genetics. Capsaicin damages pain receptors over time, so if someone continuously eats hot chili peppers, the pain receptors in their nerves will slowly degenerate and become less sensitive. Mary Roach was able to sample the Naga King Chili in small doses, which brings out the wonderful flavors that would otherwise be overwhelmed by the heat of the capsaicin.

A fruit’s heat and lineage are very dependent on growing conditions it is in. Soil, rainfall, and climate are factors that would have the potential to alter a plant. The author questions rather the Naga King Chili would be hotter if it were grown in an area with different growing conditions. Even in regions just next to Nagaland, it is possib...

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...opens up more food choices for consumers.

Concluding paragraph:

The article was talked about the science behind hot peppers like that of the Naga King Chili. Capsaicin can be very hot and intolerable, and even harmful to the human body. The tolerability to hotness of chilies is due to environment more than genetics. Just like lecture, we learned that a trait (phenotype) is the product of genetics and environment. Sometimes, like the case of capsaicin tolerance, environment can have a greater effect on the outcome than genetics do. Also, different growing conditions of a fruit can cause the fruit to taste different. Genetic engineering can be used to alter a fruit’s ability to survive different growing conditions and can make a fruit, such as superhot chilies, more tolerable for the general public. This can increase consumptions of different kinds of food.

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